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Gold on the Horizon
A literary journey through Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Jem Bloomfield
Hardback |288 pp |198 x 126 mm
'Pretty well nobody has read all that C. S. Lewis read, and so pretty well everybody will have missed all kinds of echoes and allusions in the Narnia books. Jem Bloomfield continues his journey through the series, opening up the rich hinterland of Lewis's wonderful imagination with enthusiasm and an impressively wide familiarity with Lewis's inner world, from the Classics to the school stories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A real delight, and full of illumination.'
‘Gold on the Horizon is a compelling exploration of C. S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as novels burdened with the weight of the past; Jem Bloomfield skilfully shows how Lewis’s fiction reflected and refracted troubling questions in 20th-century history and archaeology.’
‘Following his refreshing study Paths in the Snow (2023), in which he discussed literary, cultural and theological references in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Jem Bloomfield’s new book Gold on the Horizon turns the focus on Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Citing influences as diverse as the Sutton Hoo ship burial, and H. Rider Haggard’s novel King Solomon’s Mines, he investigates Lewis’s focus on the deep past in Prince Caspian; while in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader he discovers traces of the Odyssey, the Grail legends, and the hope of a New Elizabethan Age inspired by the coronation of young Queen Elizabeth in 1952. As ever, Bloomfield is never less than thoughtful and thought-provoking, and this latest work is bound to fascinate fans of Narnia.’
This fascinating book explores the numerous literary connections and themes underlying Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the second and third books in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series, following the same format of Paths in the Snow, Jem Bloomfield's popular exploration of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
From Dante to The Wind in the Willows, and from medieval dream poetry to Dorothy L. Sayers, Gold on the Horizon uncovers the literary connections which criss-cross Narnia. Stories, myth and literature played a central role in Lewis’ personal life and religious imagination: he was a professor of literature who came back to faith by seeing the Christian story as a “true myth” created by God. Untangling the fascinating network of literary allusions and sources in Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader helps to bring Lewis’ vision into focus.
This study also examines the time in which the Narnia books were written, shedding light on its historical and cultural context, and how these shaped its meaning for its first readers. The book then proceeds chapter by chapter through Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, making it ideal for reading groups or study sessions. It also provides an opportunity for readers to branch off into their own journey through the literary and theological sources which stocked Lewis’ mind.
The perfect gift for any Narnian, and a valuable resource for groups, Gold on the Horizon will appeal to all fans of C.S. Lewis’ work, and enable anyone to stand at the wardrobe door, and go further in.
